Comments on: Wedding songs?

Question: Wedding songs?

Cosine — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 12:00:52 -0800

Wedding filter: We're a couple getting married with good taste in music help us pick our wedding song...

Looking for something nice but not schlock or cheese or typical to use as a wedding song, Nick Cave's "Into My Arms" was in the running but just a bit too out there; "Dance me to the end of love" by Leonard Cohen is also a nice one but a bit dirgy and slow... any suggestions?

By: joelf

joelf — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 12:12:33 -0800

stairway to heaven.

By: ROU_Xenophobe

ROU_Xenophobe — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 12:14:31 -0800

Whaddaya mean, "wedding song?"

You mean the song that Bridey McBride will walk down the aisle to?

I wish I could come up with a good one there... my first reactions are always the Imperial March, or the Star Trek fighting music. If you wanted something traditional-ish but not horribly overdone to replace HCTB, you could do worse than a nice arrangement of St. Patrick's Breastplate (it's got binding in it and so is good for marryin'); you can probably find one that's peppy and Celtic-sounding.

Or do you mean the obligatorily schmoopy song that Mr. and Mrs. Cosine have their first dance to?

I wouldn't overthink this one; just pick what you like. Really, hardly anyone but you (and the Mother of the Bride, maybe, if this is her chance to force someone to have the wedding she always dreamed of) will care what the song is, as long as it's not something utterly horrifying like "You're The Inspiration" by Chicago. Did you ever leave a wedding where the guests were saying to each other "Well, that would have been fun, but the first-dance song was dirgy and slow, so the whole night sucked ass."?

By: slimslowslider

slimslowslider — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 12:20:38 -0800

Lou Reed's cover of "This Magic Moment".

You're talking about the song you do your first dance to, right?

We had The Beach Boys 'Wouldn't It Be Nice", although GNR's "Sweet Child O' Mine" was also in the running.

Pick something that reminds you of the best date, the good times, everything you want to celebrate about getting married. And ignore your sister-in-law/ mother/best friend when she suggests "I Will Always Love You"

By: Cosine

Cosine — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 12:22:59 -0800

Yes, the first dance song, and WE care!

By: undertone

undertone — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 12:39:02 -0800

Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah or Louis Armstrong's We Have All The Time in the World (moderately cheesy).

By: slimslowslider

slimslowslider — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 12:39:12 -0800

Also:
Built to Spill- Reasons ("You arrive and I'm on fire...")
Neil Young- Harvest Moon ("I want to see you dance again...")

By: Hlewagast

Hlewagast — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 12:42:25 -0800

Perhaps too cheesy, but I've always thought TMBG's She's an Angel would be pretty cool.

By: banjo_and_the_pork

banjo_and_the_pork — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 12:53:39 -0800

Our first dance was Holly Cole's cover of Tom Waits' "I Want You."

(I walked down the aisle to a string version of Nirvana's "All Apologies;" those who figured out what it was absolutely loved it.)

By: aiko

aiko — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 12:53:48 -0800

Otis Redding's "These Arms of Mine" off In Person At The Whisky A Go Go. It's the perfect rendition; give it a listen before you write it off.

By: Navek Rednam

Navek Rednam — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 13:12:36 -0800

Louis Armstrong's We Have All The Time in the World

Not to piss on your fire, but that song is used in the OHMSS, the film it was written for, when Bond's wife is killed in a botched drive-by hit. It also happens minutes after he is married to her.

Just pointing it out.

How about Let The Good Times Roll.

By: scody

scody — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 13:19:04 -0800

How 'bout "You're The Best Thing" by the Style Council? Dreamily romantic and quite danceable, but neither too fast or too slow, and from the Style Council's early days before they really started to, um, suck. Speaking as a Weller geek, I infinitely prefer the original version on Cafe Bleu over the remixed version that's more readily available on their singles collection.

By: xo

xo — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 13:25:27 -0800

Someone I know used Björk's version of "It's Oh So Quiet" -- which is fun and hilarious, particularly if you choreographed ways of dancing to the bombastic parts that was different from how you danced to the slow parts.

Ooh -- are you in the NY area? If so, check out Matrimony Mony for one-of-a-kind first dance choreography.

By: rmhsinc

rmhsinc — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 13:34:13 -0800

Thank God I was not the first person to think of Leonard Cohen--but a different song--sensual, seductive and great for dancing --yes, Leonard Cohen--"Dance Me To The End Of "--lyrics are very appropriate for a wedding--A few of the lyrics:

Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic 'til I'm gathered safely in
Lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the wedding now, dance me on and on
Dance me very tenderly and dance me very long
We're both of us beneath our love, we're both of us above
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/l/leonard-cohen/82897.html

By: rmhsinc

rmhsinc — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 13:35:40 -0800

Dance Me To The End Of Love--sorry, whole title

By: blue_beetle

blue_beetle — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 13:44:54 -0800

Where My Heart Will Take Me by Russell Watson.

It's the theme song for Enterprise. Yeah. Oh yeah.

By: Rev. Syung Myung Me

Rev. Syung Myung Me — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 13:47:43 -0800

One of my favorite songs of all time (if not my favorite) is "This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)" by Talking Heads. I think that'd be a dandy one. It's gorgeous. My favorite version is the one in Stop Making Sense (available on the soundtrack CD, too, of course), but if you, like, don't mind bringing a DVD, the one on the recent David Byrne Live At Union Chapel disc is also so beautiful I almost cried.

By: escabeche

escabeche — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 14:53:46 -0800

My sister-in-law used Lou Reed's "Perfect Day" and it was great.

By: ibmcginty

ibmcginty — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 15:09:01 -0800

Wouldn't It Be Nice, God Only Knows, or In My Life are probably best... or She's No Lady (She's My Wife) by Lyle Lovett, but odds are low that everyone at the wedding will have the proper sense of humor for that one.

Perfect Day is a pretty menacing song, I always thought. Will hafta re-listen. "You just keep me hanging on" "you made me forget myself, I thought I was someone else, someone good" "you're gonna reap just what you sew."

By: stavx

stavx — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 15:14:34 -0800

My best friend used The Verve's- Sonnet and it was lurvely---to this day I remember that and give him kudos because it kicked asssss.
here's the amazon page with a clip for the unititiated
href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000000WF0/qid=1121551947/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-9887724-8109659?v=glance&s=music&n=507846">

By: roundrock

roundrock — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 15:37:34 -0800

We used "What a Difference a Day Made." We had an orchestra, but if you're using a DJ, you can't beat the Tony Bennett version (you can get it on the One Fine Day soundtrack). We also considered "As Time Goes By" (from Casablanca), "At Last" (Etta James), "When I Fall In Love" (Nat King Cole), "The Way You Look Tonight" (Frank Sinatra), and "Isn't it Romantic" (Ella Fitzgerald). They're all classics, but some are less commonly used then others.

By: echolalia67

echolalia67 — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 15:40:36 -0800

We went with "I've Found A Reason" by the Velvet Underground, but had been seriously considering "Northern Sky" by Nick Drake. I personally love "Beestung" by Kristen Hersh.

By: 31d1

31d1 — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 15:52:44 -0800

What about Cohen's "Suzanne"?

Some ideas I dunno:

"Girl From Ipanema"

Tom Waits "Better Off Without a Wife" (if you're cool like that)

Sun Ra "Rocket Number Nine"

Coltane's "Wise One"

Dylan "Peggy Day"

Beatles "She's So (Heavy)"

Man, I wonder what mine might be... Right now I feel like it might be D'Angelo's "The Line". Actually you might wanna check that out :)

By: .kobayashi.

.kobayashi. — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 15:52:53 -0800

From the sound of it, the sense of "good taste in music" for this thread is skewing pretty heavily towards indie rock. If that's the case, I can't help but think that you might want to scour over Yo La Tengo's back catalogue: there's probably plenty in the last few records that might fit the bill. Some might skew a little cheesy, like "Center of Gravity," but hey, it is a wedding after all.

Alternatively, if you're looking for something a little classic, but also a little funny, and a little different, Blossom Dearie's version of Rodgers & Hart's "Ev'rything I've Got" is an interesting choice.

By: roue

roue — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 15:53:00 -0800

Where or When by Ella Fitzgerald is a classic.

By: Wolfdog

Wolfdog — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 15:55:02 -0800

Hedningarna's Såglåten is a good dance, just off-kilter enough to be interesting, and lyrically apropos. Least I think.

By: chickenmagazine

chickenmagazine — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 16:12:17 -0800

If you like "Dance Me to the End of Love," Madeleine Peyroux has a version that's still a little slow, but not dirgey at all. It's danceable.

As for "who cares about the first dance song" -- we picked "Love Is Here To Stay," the Ella and Louis version, and I kind of regret not picking something more unique. Your guests may not remember it, but you'll always think of it as "your" song. It's not quite as much fun when it's everybody else's song too.

By: omnidrew

omnidrew — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 16:14:58 -0800

For my wedding in 2001, I DJed these up to start the 1st mix disc:

1) Queen "Wedding March" (short fanfare)
2) Al Green "Let's Get Married"
3) Percy Sledge "When A Man Loves A Woman"

Nice intro set of 3, plus they can be cut together nicely.
You can't go wrong with an Al Green song.

Other tracks on the mix included:

Bryan Ferry "What A Wonderful World"
DeFranco family "Heartbeat, It's a Lovebeat"
Ivor Cutler "Darling Would You Marry Me Twice?"
Bo Diddley "Love Her Madly"
Campbell Brothers "Jump for Joy"
Wanda Jackson "Funnel of Love"

(on preview)

Wolfdog, since you're gettin' all Nordic, I'll also mention I used:

Hedningarna "Forest Maiden"
Rosenberg 7 "My Wedding Day"
plus some Värttinä & Hoven Droven

By: invitapriore

invitapriore — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 16:45:56 -0800

I agree with .kobayashi.'s suggestion of Yo La Tengo (assuming it's up your alley) and I think that "You Can Have It All" is a good song to use.

If you're up for something goofy and fun, All Day and All of the Night by the Kinks is a good candidate.

By: 31d1

31d1 — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 17:09:07 -0800

Ooooh, Al Green "Simply Beautiful"

(swoon)

By: xmutex

xmutex — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 17:15:22 -0800

We had the Beatle's In My Life for our first dance and Nick Cave's Breathless for our final and both were wonderful. Walked down the aisle to the theme from True Romance (Hans Zimmer's update of the Badlands little theme) and had a bunch of music from the film Amelie splattered through the ceremony.

Good luck!

By: dhoyt

dhoyt — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 18:38:17 -0800

"The Book of Love" by Magnetic Fields

By: dhoyt

dhoyt — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 19:28:11 -0800

BTW cosine: dunno if you've heard the song, but if you need an mp3, email me. It's kind of anti-schlock, but self-consciously/cleverly schlocky all the same. It was the theme to my best friends' wedding (to each other) this spring and they got a lot of compliments for their choice.

By: dhoyt

dhoyt — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 19:28:23 -0800

and congrats!

By: bluehermit

bluehermit — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 19:31:50 -0800

How about "Another one bites the dust"? J/K :)

I really like Lifehouse's song "Everything" It's more pop, but I think it would make a great wedding song, it has really heartfelt lyrics
go here for them

By: bluehermit

bluehermit — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 19:34:08 -0800

sorry the link didn't work for some reason, here it is :)

"Everything" by Lifehouse

By: sfz

sfz — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 20:39:07 -0800

we're going with Willie Nelson: I'd Have to Be Crazy. It's such a nice song.

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 20:55:42 -0800

i dj'd a friend's wedding several years ago and picked "i go to pieces" by southern pacific for the first (slow) "dollar dance" song ... worked very well ... yes, they're a country group, but they do it acapella and quite well

after i got the freddy yankovic and soft songs out of the way for the older crowd i blasted the place with ac/dc ... that was awhile ago ...

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 21:27:48 -0800

Well... What do you want? I mean, you can do pretty much anything there, it just depends on you an' your spouse, y'know?
You can go for "Married Man's a Fool" by Ry Cooder or you can go for "Goin' to the Chapel." You can play something instrumental and gorgeous like A Love Supreme by Coltrane, or something sweet like "Walkin' After Midnight" by Patsy Klein. Up to you. Give me a little more info, and I can give you more suggestions. I mean, I just don't know if you're the types to think Velvet Underground's Heroin ("You're my life and you're my wife") is sly or creepy...

By: iwouldificould

iwouldificould — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 23:20:15 -0800

Not all of these are sweet but the ones that aren't are intense, in one way or another. Some of them however are just sappy and none of them are mean.
Flaming Lips, Do You Realize (they did use this for a car commercial recently though)
Blur's, Your So Great
One by One or She Came Along to Me, by Billy Bragg and Wilco
Four Richard Buckner songs; Faithful Shooter, Goner, Brief and Boundless, and Once
Saint Etienne, Nothing Can Stop Us
Ride, Vapour Trail
Bretta Phillips and Dean Wareham, Night Nurse
Massive Attack, Protection
And if your feeling brave maybe one of these might work...
Magnetic Fields, Underwear
Pulp, Underwear
Smog, Dress Sexy at My Funeral

By: cali

cali — Sun, 17 Jul 2005 00:02:30 -0800

Some friends who got married last year danced to the Pixie's "Gigantic", which is their favorite song. At the wedding I went to last weekend, the bride and groom surprised and delighted everyone by coming out of nowhere with an awesome tango. Who knew they had it in them? Personally I'd probably pick Ray Charles' "Come Rain Or Come Shine", but only if the groom could really dance.

By: madman

madman — Sun, 17 Jul 2005 00:25:59 -0800

I have a hopeless romantic gal friend who recommends "One Boy One Girl" by Colin Raye and would like me to tell y'all that.

By: Rev. Syung Myung Me

Rev. Syung Myung Me — Sun, 17 Jul 2005 00:56:28 -0800

I love Patsy Cline's "Walkin' After Midnight", but I don't think it'd really apply -- it seems to be about a couple who have split apart, and the singer's still pining.

By: Radio7

Radio7 — Sun, 17 Jul 2005 02:20:09 -0800

One of the most romantic songs I've ever heard is 'Don't Give Up" by Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush.

Alternately, there's "By Your Side" by Sade, off of her "Lover's Rock" album. It's lovely too.

By: theora55

theora55 — Sun, 17 Jul 2005 07:05:10 -0800

Randy Travis - Forever And Ever, Amen
Joan Armatrading - Heaven

By: JT

JT — Sun, 17 Jul 2005 07:49:46 -0800

We considered Ben Folds "The Luckiest" or Van Morrison's "Tupelo Honey" but are going with "More" by Bobby Darin. My best friend used "What the World Needs Now Is Love", the Burt Bacharach tune sung by I forgot who. At a wedding I went to recently they danced to "The Very Thought of You" by Billie Holiday, which I thought was a great choice too.

By: essexjan

essexjan — Sun, 17 Jul 2005 09:07:58 -0800

How about 'Happy Together' by the Turtles. A really fun, romantic song to start off the dancing.

By: whatnot

whatnot — Sun, 17 Jul 2005 09:49:00 -0800

Seconding "You're the Best Thing" by Style Council, Cafe Bleu version. And Dinah Washington's version of "What a Difference a Day Made" is my favorite.

For irreverence, I suggest "She's No Lady" by Lyle Lovett.

By: UKnowForKids

UKnowForKids — Sun, 17 Jul 2005 10:38:22 -0800

We're currently considering Neil Young's "Harvest Moon" and Lucinda Williams' cover of Nick Drake's "Which Will." I like "Which Will" better as a song, but I don't think it's very danceable. "Harvest Moon" is pretty, danceable, and appropriate ("I wanna see you dance again," "I'm still in love with you").

By: scody

scody — Sun, 17 Jul 2005 14:31:42 -0800

Ooh! Two more suggestions that came on the iPod this morning at the gym that seemed like good contenders: "Truly, Truly" by Grant Lee Buffalo and "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" by the Jayhawks. Hell, if I ever get married again, I'd dance to either one of those!

By: JPowers

JPowers — Sun, 17 Jul 2005 15:59:31 -0800

I'd check out Sade, Michael Bublee and Jack Johnson. They worked for our wedding reception.

By: Jon-o

Jon-o — Sun, 17 Jul 2005 22:17:57 -0800

We're planning on playing "The Man in Me." Y'know, the song that plays over the credits of The Big Lebowsky.
I think it's by Bob Dylan...

By: schustafa

schustafa — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 07:39:35 -0800

It's Only Time, by the Magnetic Fields.

It's a little slow, too, but about the right speed if you're going to dance to it, and the lyrics are perfect. It was our wedding song.

By: DakotaPaul

DakotaPaul — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 14:35:31 -0800

Ours was "Wonderful Tonight", the live version from Clapton's The Blues compilation. Slower tempo than the radio version, about six minutes long. Cliche? Maybe, but it was the first song I played for my wife on our first date.

By: sluggo

sluggo — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 14:36:06 -0800

Our wedding song was David Bowie's Moonage Daydream, so anything goes.

By: jack_mo

jack_mo — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 10:55:17 -0800

FWIW, I think your original idea of Into My Arms beats all subsequent suggestions. Beautiful song, perfect sentiments expressed.

An alternative suggestion: some friends of mine played Love Hangover by Diana Ross. Shmaltzy for sure, but it had more than a few guests blubbing into their champagne flutes.